UN holds meeting with Libyan Political Dialogue Forum's Advisory Committee

Tripoli, Jan 5 A UN representative held a virtual meeting with the newly established Advisory Committee of the Libyan Political Dialogue Forum (LPDF) to discuss the latter's tasks and other agendas,

In a statement on Monday, the UN Support Mission in Libyan (UNSMIL) said Stephanie Williams, acting special representative of the UN Secretary-General in Libya, spoke with the committee's officials over its mandate, tasks, expected outcomes, and the timeframe for its work, Xinhua news agency reported.

"In her opening remarks, Williams reiterated that the committee will play an advisory role and will work for a period of two weeks to produce concrete recommendations to address differences that have emerged over the selection mechanism and the nomination procedures of the executive authority, and to build consensus among the LPDF members," the UNSMIL said.

Williams urged the participants to seize this opportunity to expedite the establishment of a unified executive authority, and to work together in order to fulfil the aspirations of the Libyan people.

Thr UNSMIL requested the members of the Advisory Committee to submit written proposals to be discussed in the next meeting scheduled to be held virtually on Wednesday.

On January 2, the mission announced the establishment of the Advisory Committee, whose mandate "will be strictly time-bound and its main mission shall be to discuss outstanding issues related to the selection of a unified executive and to put forward concrete and practical recommendations upon which the plenary shall decide".

The LPDF's Legal Committee (LC) held its third virtual session on Sunday, where the members shared proposals for constitutional arrangements for elections, the UN mission said.

The proposals presented a range of options to facilitate the implementation of the Roadmap agreed upon by the LPDF in November 2020.

"UNSMIL's Electoral Team provided a briefing highlighting the necessary sequencing and time-bound milestones related to constitutional arrangements for holding the national elections on the agreed-upon date of December 24, 2021.

"The LC agreed to resume its discussions at the end of this week," it added.

The Legal Committee is tasked with following up on the work of the House of Representatives and the High Council of State in relation to constitutional arrangements, and to provide the two institutions with recommendations in an effort to reach an agreement on a constitutional basis leading to holding the national elections.

During the convocation of the dialogue forum held on November 7-15, 2020 in Tunisia, 75 Libyans representing the social and political spectrum of the society discussed a political roadmap to achieve lasting peace in the war-torn country.

The participants also voted on a mechanism to select a unified executive authority of the country.

( With inputs from IANS )